Conventionally, an electric motor used in a compressor or the like of an air conditioner or refrigerator includes a rotor and a tubular stator radially disposed outside the rotor. The stator includes a stator core and insulators disposed facing the opposite axial both end surfaces of the stator core. The insulators are formed of an insulating material, such as resin.
Referring to FIG. 9, a conventional insulator 80 includes a cylindrical outer peripheral wall portion 81, a plurality of winding body portions 82, and inner flange portions 83. The winding body portions 82 protrude radially from the outer peripheral wall portion 81 toward the inner side in the radial direction. The inner flange portions 83 rise from the inner ends of the respective winding body portions 82 in the axial direction of the cylinder. An insulator opening 84 is formed between the adjacent inner flange portions 83. An insulator slot 85 is formed as a fan-shaped space enclosed by the outer peripheral wall portion 81 of the insulator 80 and the adjacent winding body portions 82. The outer peripheral wall portion 81 of the insulator 80 includes three outer nails 86 externally fitting on an outer peripheral end portion of the stator core (not shown). The outer nails 86 are configured to fix the insulator 80 to the stator core. In the conventional insulator 80 configured as described above, when an armature coil is formed by winding a conductive wire on each of the winding body portions 82, the conductive wire is extended over the outer peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 81 according to the connection relationship of the windings. In this way, crossover wires 87 are extended without slack (see Patent Literature 1, for example).